Catwoman and Bane vs. Batman!

It's finally been announced.  Ever since The Dark Knight stormed theaters back in 2008, fans and the media alike have been wondering who Batman will face in the next movie.  And today we FINALLY have our answer.  Battling the Dark Knight will be... Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Tom Hardy as Bane!

He did it!

Now, we already knew Hardy was cast as a main role, and there had been rumors that he would instead be cast as Dr. Hugo Strange.  Instead he'll play the muscle bound Bane, the only man to physically take on Batman and win.  I think having Bane as the villain is completely AWESOME.  Bane was the villain I was hoping for since day one, since he's one of the few villains who can be done realistically enough to fit into Nolan's world.  He also will provide a much needed physical and mental opponent for Bats, hopefully giving us a pretty epic fight at the end.  There are a couple of different ways to portray Bane (and no, the Batman and Robin version doesn't count), and the best way to do so will involve showing him as a corrupted version of Batman.  One who shares the same discipline and strength, but drastically different ways of using it.  And after Inception, I'm a huge supporter of Tom Hardy and have nothing but confidence that he'll pull off a great performance.

Of course, the biggest surprise comes with the announcement of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman.  I'm not the biggest Catwoman fan, and was never quite sure what her place would be in Nolan's films.  I always had the feeling she could work, I just don't know how they could do it.  And I think Anne Hathaway could be a nice fit for the part.  It seems she's destined to play some kind of Cat-based character.  Hathaway was originally set to play the Black Cat (or something close to it) in Spider-Man 4, before the entire movie collapsed.  The actress is certainly one the best talents in Hollywood right now, and always has a cute, quirky charm about her.  But playing Catwoman, the most seductive character in comics?  That will be something new for her, and I don't think I've seen her do a role like that.  Then again, I haven't seen a ton of her movies.  And Nolan hasn't had the best luck picking woman in the Batman movies.  I couldn't stand Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Katie Holmes was just bleh.  Well, third time's a charm eh?  Well here's the most slutty photo of her I could find (other than all those leaked nude photos, of course), so judge for yourself.